To shape a new destiny
by brkayace
Summary: The world was left scarred and broken, people lost their ways and the war had drained them of their energy. But to me, Aang was a light; he was a boy standing in the middle of it all with a plan. This is the story of how my husband saved the world twice.
1. The Real Beginning

To shape a new destiny (Avatar: The Last Airbender spinoff/fanfiction)

_After the initial issue of defeating Firelord Ozai was complete, Aang was faced with another issue, one in which he had never considered when starting his journey to master the elements. What to do as the Avatar. The world was left scarred and broken, people lost their ways and the war had drained them of their energy. But to me, Aang was a light; he was a boy standing in the middle of it all with a plan. My name is Katara, and this is the story of how my husband saved the world a second time. _

There are so many places where our story could've started. It could've been when Aang was recovered from the iceberg a year ago, after Zukos inauguration, or the first time Aang and I kissed for longer than five seconds. But in my mind it'll always be the day I knew for sure that my best friend was in love with me. It was a memory that was stained into my brain.

We were on Ember Island, hiding away as refugees once again. It was not something we were unused to, but with the addition of Zuko I was having a hard time adjusting. Around this time I had warmed up to him enough to stay in his summer home. It was suggested by my brother Sokka that we attend a play about ourselves and our journey so far, and unknown to the rest of us, Aang was offended by most of it. Well, we were all offended! But Aang is the one who took most of the damage.

They had portrayed Zuko and I as lovers. I didn't know what to think of it, because I had never imagined myself with Zuko that way. My feelings for him had forever been clouded with anger, and I am just now learning him as a person. Aang stormed out at intermission and didn't return. The rest of our group suggested that he was buying candy but I knew him better than that. Something was wrong. After searching I finally found him, standing alone on the porch near the far west side of the building, looking out across the ocean. The moons pale light sparkled as the waves crashed against the rocky shore down the north side of the beach, and brushed softly against the sand near the south side.

As I approached him, I soon realized how distraught he was, hunched over the railing like he was going to cry. It pained me to see him like this. I crossed my arms and waited, waited for him to acknowledge me or something but he didn't so I finally asked, "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not. I hate this play!" He reached up and threw the hat he had worn to conceal his arrow to the ground.

"I know it's upsetting, but it sounds like you're overreacting," I say, walking up to his side. We were all upset by our characters, but I had never seen Aang this distraught over something as foolish as a silly play.

"Overreacting! If I hadn't blocked my chakra I'd probably be in the Avatar-state right now!" He threw his arms up in frustration before returning to his position before, deciding to himself it was not worth it yelling to me. We're both silent and I think of ways to assure him that this play is not worth upsetting over. Soon I lose my focus and glance up at the moon, his fullness tonight radiating its power. It brings back awful memories. But it also makes me feel stronger than I have in a long time. A million thoughts run through my head and Aangs voices the only thing pulling me back to reality.

"Katara," he says, "did you really mean what you said in there?" He turns to me, his big gray eyes nearly breaking my heart. He was truly hurting and I still had no idea why. It simply cannot be because of this play!

"In where, what are you talking about?" I ask.

"On stage, when you said I was just like a…brother to you, and you didn't have feelings for me," he says this as if I should've known, placing his hand on his chest. I observe the way he falters when he says 'brother', and I know that's clearly what's offended him the most, not the fact that he was cast with a woman.

"I didn't say that, an actor said that," I reassure him.

"But its true isn't it?" he looks down at the ground and I feel I know where this is going. I tug on my own arm, my mind racing. "We kissed at the invasion and I thought we were gunna be together, but we're not," he says sadly, avoiding my eyes.

"Aang, I don't know," I finally murmur, turning towards the rail and thinking of ways to tell my best friend that I can't be with him. Not yet.

"Why don't you know!" he pushes, coming closer. He was driven not by need of my reciprocation of his feelings, but to know at least how I feel. The truth.

"Because we're in the middle of a war, and we have other things to worry about. This isn't the right time," I tell him. There was something brewing inside of me, a want I had never felt towards Aang before. To me Aang had been a child, a little boy who'd woken up from the deepest of slumbers in my arms. He _was_ like my brother, but it's not every day you find your brother longs for your companionship. And that you long for his as well.

"Well, when is the right time?" He sounds as if he's going to explode if he doesn't know in this moment, and the confusion swirling in my mind only amounts to the words that follow.

"Aang I'm sorry but right now I'm just a little confused." I tug on my hair and close my eyes, trying to get the throbbing in my head to slow. He's silent and I think for a moment that he may just let it go. At least until I get my feelings sorted out.

I was wrong. I feel something soft and pleasant, cool and gentle. Aang is pressing his lips against mine and as soon as I realize it I pull away, gasping as my hand flies up to where his lips just were. _Aangs _lips, pressed against mine!

"I just said I was confused!"I yell at his desperate and vulnerable coal eyes. I try to lower my voice, knowing how fragile he is. "I'm going inside." And that's when I rushed away, inside to the sound of voices and the smell of delicious firenation food.

Of course that day had been the turning point in our relationship, and since then I had led him to believe that I could never return his feelings. But it was over the next few weeks that I found myself to do just that. I was in love with Aang, and had he not done what he did that night, I would never have known.


	2. The Aftermath

The aftermath

After Aang and I shared out kiss on the balcony of The Jasmine Dragon, he retreated to his room at our house we shared in what seemed like ages ago. We wouldn't be staying here permanently but we would tonight while we planned our next moves. It was almost hard to believe…a hundred years of war _over. _To some people, this may be the first time they've ever seen peace, ever been truly free. It was like for a hundred years the world screamed, and all at once, stopped. In the silence I heard my ears ringing, listening, and waiting for something to happen. Then Aang spoke, and with his words I heard my name.

"I'll meet you back at the house Katara," he says not less than a second after he pulls away. I think for a moment _am I supposed to follow him? _But I knew from the look on his face that he wanted to be alone. He must be exhausted.

Back in the teashop, I was playing with my tea, watching the steam rise and lifting it out of the cup with my fingers. I swirled it in the air, watching the gentle cream color of it blend in with the ceiling. I thought back to the first few moments that Aang and I first met, his tattoos glowing brightly and fading as he stood at the top of the iceberg. I remember him falling into my arms…

"I got it!" Sokka exclaimed, lifting the painting he'd drawn into the air.

"What!" I gasped, frightened by his sudden outburst. It had been silent prior. He didn't respond and I laughed when I looked at him. He was soaked with the tea I had accidentally dropped on him, his face the way it always has been during my bending mishaps. Well, he should be used to it by now!

"Why do you always have to play with magic water around me!" he jokes, taking it better he used to. At least nowadays he knows that it's bending and not just 'magic water'.

"It's tea, not water," I correct, yanking it out of his clothes in one fluid motion. "You should be glad I didn't get any on your wonderful painting of…" I trailed off, looking at the shapes and different strokes of black paint.

"It's of us!" he says, holding it up so that the rest of us could see it.

"My hairs not that spiky," Zuko growls, looking more irritated than angry. I simply laughed at all of their unhappy little comments towards Sokkas painting. They weren't all that rude though, and Sokka just laughed them off, while still defending his artwork. I saw Aang in his painting and already I missed him. Maybe I should go talk to him, it wasn't right of him to leave us all here.

"Toph," I whisper, knowing she'll hear me. She stands from where she sits comfortably on the other side of the room, coming over to me coolly.

"What is it sugar queen?" she says, sipping on her tea and taking sitting on the desk in front of me.

"Can you cover for me? I need to get out of here, see Aang," I whispered, knowing her of all people would understand. People sort of underestimated how close we've become. We may have gotten off rough in the beginning, but the healing process helped tremendously.

"Sure thing," she whispered. She winked and stood up, stretching and yawning. "I think it's about time we get headin' home don't 'ya think?" she says. I think for a minute. Why is she suggesting we all head home? The whole purpose was for Aang and I to be alone!

"Mai and I will be returning to the Fire Nation in the morning, it's my first week as Fire Lord and I can't spend it away from my country," Zuko says, standing and tapping Sokka on the shoulder reassuringly to pick up his attitude about his painting.

"Yes. It is about time you kids rest, you've had a long journey." Iroh smiles warmly at us all, setting his tea on the table in front of him. "The White Lotus will need to recreate itself and establish a secure location. Where is Aang? I must speak to him personally," he says, looking around.

"He decided to head home for the night," I tell him.

"Well I hope you all have a nice night, I'll be retiring as well." He stands and we take that as our dismissal.

"Uncle, can we meet with you tomorrow? I think it's safe to assume you won't be returning to the Fire Nation with us," Zuko says sadly, drooping his arm around Mai's shoulder. "I need help," his voice gets quieter and I feel like I'm invading on a private moment between them. Iroh nods and sets his hand on his nephews shoulder.

"We'll speak in the morning," he says. After that it's all mindless chatter as we exit the Jasmine Dragon and mount Appa, heading home to arrange future living arrangements. I need to get to the South Pole at some point, needed to let GranGran know that Sokka and I are both okay, and make sure that she knows how much we love her.

My mind wanders and I find myself reminiscing over past memories and thinking about Aang, about what the rest of our lives were going to be like. Where would I live? I couldn't return to the South Pole permanently. Not after I'd seen the world, fallen in love with the Avatar. Would I marry him?

The sky is dark and stars shine brightly. I get closer to Toph and lean in, beginning to ask her what her reasoning was.

"Aang won't be there, wait until they're asleep and then take Appa and go find him," she says quietly before I can even open my mouth.

"How do you know that?" I question, looking down at the city below us, people scrambling to get into their homes, waiting for some Fire Nation resistance to rise out of the ashes. The war had ended, and the peace tonight was going to scary. A night of not knowing what to do or where we would go next. Aang was going to have a lot on his shoulders for the rest of his life. How was he supposed to be the Avatar and create a world if he was repairing it? Maybe, he could do both in the process.

"I just do," she smiles wryly and waits for a moment after I don't respond. "Check the outer wall," she adds. He must've told her that he wanted me to meet me there. That's the only explanation.

Soon enough, we were at our old home in the upper ring and all of our friends slid down Appas tail, drowsily trudging into the house, eager for sleep after the longest day of their lives.

"Zuko," I say, moving onto Appas head, ready leave after my word with the old prince.

"Yes?" he asks, letting Mai go in before him.

"I just wanted to say thank you again, what you did was incredible," I tell him with gratitude, all I ever was to him was cold, and he still risked his life for mine. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"I'm all stitched up now," he opens up his robes and shows to me the bounds wrapped around his torso. "I'll heal just fine." He smiles. "And you're welcome, though I owe you just as much. You saved my life too." I nodded respectfully, and let him go inside, his golden eyes tired.

"Goodnight," I call after him.

"Goodnight Katara," he says back before closing the door.

The ride to the outer wall was long and I nearly fell asleep on the way there, but just as I felt myself slipping I was awakened by the sight of the massive construction. I landed and gained a visual of Aang, his back to me and a small fire lit up in front of him, his glider leaned up against the wall. He was meditating.

The sight of him caused butterflies to arise in my stomach. My friend for the longest time, is now about to be my love; my true love.

I sit behind him, unable to resist wrapping my arms around him. He reaches up to touch my arm. I sigh and bury my face in his shoulder.

"I love you Aang," I whisper. He turns around to face me, the widest, most beautiful smile spread across his face. This was the Aang I knew, and I couldn't help but smile back at the sight. He practically tackles me, hugging me as tightly as I remember him too.

"I'm surprise you came!" he says. "What with us being up all night and all day, I thought you'd be the first to get to sleep." He says, smiling at me the same way he always has.

"Really? Considering Sokka," I say. He nods.

"True." I look at him for a moment, and he gazes back. "Can I kiss you?" he asks. I don't answer; I just wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips tightly to his. I had never wanted another person this much in my entire life. The feeling scared me and it most likely scared him too, but both of us were surrounded with this heat that we couldn't shake. We were kissing passionately, much more fulfilling than our kiss an hour ago. It was like we were making up for the lost time. But we had all of the time in the world to kiss each other, and maybe even make love in the future. Make love…of course. There was no getting out of that; we had to repopulate the airbenders didn't we? But of course there was no rushing into that, though I would do that more than willingly.

We continue kissing, falling back until he was pressed against the floor. It was the craziest feeling ever! His body was warm and our hands found places to explore, to hold and cradle.

As I pull away I notice Aang is panting quietly, his fingers wound into my hair, pulling me closer, in for another kiss. This one is quick, but still does not fail to set my insides on fire. His lips are wet and soft and there is a forcefulness that makes me feel weak as a woman, makes me want to give up everything right then and there.

"It feels to wrong to be physical with you," he whispers as he releases me, "but it feels just so right at the same time. I'm sad to say we can't continue, because I'm afraid we'll go too far," he concludes. I nod, agreeing.

"Why don't we get you home, you must be exhausted." I say, helping him stand up. He uses firebending to put out the fire he'd made, cooing Appa as he approaches him.

"Hey boy, I bet you did great today!" he says with a smile. "Did you help Katara defeat Azula?" he says. I laugh and come up behind him again, hugging him more tightly.

"I better be allowed to hug you, because I went a year not knowing you wanted me to touch you," I say. He chuckles and turns to hug me back, his body warm and inviting. "I could stay in your arms forever," I whisper. He responds after a moment of thinking.

"Then sleep with me tonight." I look up at him, stunned that he would actually agree to an idea like that. He shrugs. "The monks never said anything about sleeping in the same bed as a woman, as long as fornication does not occur," he says with a smile. He comes closer and squeezes me, brushing his nose against my neck, his warm breath sending shivers up my spine. "So sleep with me."


	3. What's left

I couldn't help but draw myself down closer to Aang, his chest bare and my bounds the only thing keeping me from being exposed. Aang chose to keep his pants on, for fear that the monks would've been disappointed in his decision making tonight. I couldn't stop holding him, couldn't stop thinking about him. I couldn't fall asleep either. Despite every ones suspicious looks as Aang and I entered our room together, I couldn't help but feel like they accepted the idea of us being together, knew it was going to happen. All except for Sokka who finds our love rather gross. He would learn to get over it though.

"Aang," I whisper as I look up at his adorable yet beautiful face.

"Yes Katara?" he answers back, tightening his grip around me. I pull up so that I'm level with him and grin slightly. Everything still seems so odd, this is _Aang!_ I am so not used to touching him this way.

"You know I'm proud of you right?" I say. He smiles and nods, kissing my forehead as I rested on his shoulder again.

"I know. I'm proud of you too," he says. "I just don't know what I'm gunna do," he whispers, looking up at the ceiling. "Sure, the Firelord is defeated…but how am I gunna fix the rest of the world…?"

"Shhh," I hush him, rubbing his chest affectionately. It still felt so odd to be touching Aang this way, he was only thirteen after all, while I was fifteen.

"Katara," he whispered, looking at me. "Do you know how weird this is for me?"

"You mean us?" I confirm, gesturing to both of us in a circular motion. He nods. "Well it confuses me too, but I think that we made the right choice. Don't you?" I ask, running my hand up his neck and cupping his cheek sensually. He shivers and nods, trembling beneath my touch and his innocent coal eyes gazed up at me like they had the moment I first held him in my arms. So vulnerably and preciously.

After a few tender kisses Aang slept soundly that night, not stirred once. That was until morning when he smelled the breakfast I had made for everyone. And just like all of them he came out the minute his nose woke him up, asking the same question.

"Breakfast?" is the only word he murmurs in question. I smile and nod.

"Smells great sugar queen," Toph comments as she emerges from her room as well. Everyone else had woken up already; they're in the dining room on cushions stuffing their faces. Aang and Toph were the last ones to awaken. "Just what a growing girl needs."

I laughed, "Well then I'll try to make breakfast for you more often," I say, handing her a plate.

"No can do honey, I'm leavin'." She sits down and starts stuffing her face.

"What?" I question. "Is everybody splitting up?" I exclaim, sitting down next to Aang, finally excited to eat something. We were all starving, and it was amazing to have food thanks to the Earth King. Zuko nodded.

"Mai and I will be heading back to the Fire Nation in a few hours. A ship has been sent." Zuko smiles a Mai briefly.

"We could've flown you," Aang muttered, upset with the sudden realization that Zuko would be leaving us.

"I appreciate that, Aang," Zuko says. Aang just looks down, picking at his fruit. He refused the meat, like I knew he would.

"Well Toph, what are your plans for the future?" I question.

"Don't know yet, might as well get back to see my parents." She looks down and closes her eyes, suddenly serious. "They deserve to know I'm alright and that the war is over."

"Will you stay for another day?" Aang pleads suddenly. "I want you to be here with us, in Ba Sing Sei. Go home in a day, be with your parents, but please come back. I could use your authority and tenacity for a lot of things," he smiles softly, and though she can't see it, she mirrors it.

"I guess I can stay for another day, ain't hurtin' anybody," she agrees, ignoring her fork and using her fingers to scoop up the mango from her plate and plop it into her mouth.

"Katara," Sokka speaks up in his 'authority' voice, "we need to go back to the South Pole." I nod in agreement.

"I know, but I think that we need to stay here for a few more days. We can't just destroy so much land and just leave. We need to meet with Earth King Kuei and plan as much as we possibly can before making any further decisions," I say.

"But Katara, we do still need to go home!" he replies. "I mean we can't stay in the Earth Kingdom forever. Aang is the avatar, he can handle things," Sokka says rather blatantly.

"Aang is thirteen Sokka, you think he repair an entire world by himself?" I snap, "I'm not leaving permanently. And anyway, we just went through a year long struggle with him and you're in a hurry to say goodbye already?"

I can tell that my comments caught him by surprise and I glance at Aang, his face understanding, but I see it hurts him to face this truth.

Sokka grumbles, disregarding the last thing I said, "I'm still going home. Just because you two wanna play the love game doesn't mean I need to be a part of it." And I think that's when it finally hits me. The war is over, and now our family is splitting up. It's gotten down to blood now; my own blood is going to leave. Am I making the right decision…?

"What about Suki?" I ask, seeing as she's the only one who hasn't said anything. She sighs.

"I need to be wherever my warriors are, which reminds me, Aang!" she exclaims.

"Hmnh?" he looks up, clueless, his mouth full of blueberries. He was trying to see how many he could fit in there…again…

"Could we be of any help with clean-up? From the airships it looks like you and Firelord Ozai made a mess," she jokes. Aang chuckled, nodding in approval.

"I guess. Cleaning up would definitely be the first step."

"He's not Firelord anymore," Zuko corrects Suki with a grin. I smile as well.

"Do you think anyone was hurt?" I ask, thinking about all of the wounded people, Fire Nation soldiers especially.

"I don't know, should we head out there?" Zuko asks, wiping his mouth free of crumbs with his napkin.

"Probably," Aang looks down thinking, and then he stands up. "I'm going to go check out the city, make sure there aren't any…remains," he says, and I know he means bodies.

"I'm coming too!" I say, scurrying to my feet and bringing my plate to the kitchen so that the ScorpionAnts won't infest the place. Sokka looks at me disapprovingly, which only makes me want to go with them more.

Once we're outside and climbing on top of Appa, I realize how quiet he's really been all morning, compared to how happy he was on the outer wall yesterday.

"Do you want to have children?" he asks, quite randomly. I laugh. Suki decided to join us and so she and Zuko were chatting quietly on Appas saddle.

"Of course I do. You don't want to be the only Airbender for too much longer do you?" I ask.

"No…but…you want mine?" he asks again, refusing to look me in the eyes. I nod.

"I love you." That's enough, and I lean in to kiss his cheek like I have done many times before, but this time it's different, my lips lingered there and they tingled when I pull away. This boy was changing me…

"I love you too, but that doesn't mean you need to have my children for me. I want to know if you wanted them before me," he asks, this time looking at me, honest curiosity on his face.

"I did, I've always wanted kids," I say, shrugging and looking out across the city as more of it came into our view. There were people in the streets, talking, holding their children's hands and looking around cautiously. It was still early, and only the close few people knew what had happened. Only about the five hundred who were at Zukos inauguration.

"We need to have a larger ceremony, Aang, not enough people know what happened," I say.

"It's not that they don't know what happened, but they don't know who won. Simply flying over should let a lot of them know," he says with a grin. A big childish grin that I couldn't help but reciprocate. Suddenly his smile got wider and he stood up, wobbling slightly from the height we were at and he swung his glider open, jumping from Appa and flying down towards the people, who looked up at him, pointing and waving. He flashed his teeth to all of them and waved back, doing tricks in the sky, flips and whatnot. Appa followed Aang obediently and it took a lot of my strength to keep him from doing a few flips of his own.

"This war is over!" he yells as loud as he could over the area, and the people had just burst out into cheers, and looking closely, I noticed a few of them began to cry, bending down and scooping up their children. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.


	4. Mysterious Island

We met with the Earth King later that day, and despite Sokkas mood earlier he returned to his normal self during the meeting. It was the oddest sensation walking around the palace knowing there were no evil Dai Li agents or firebenders searching for blood. We were safe. For now, I'm sure we'll have to deal with the angry resentment of the firebenders who lost their loved ones who were soldiers in the war, but that comes later; I just hope the compensation levels aren't too demanding. We don't even know where we're sleeping tonight, so I doubt we'll be able to provide so much more than a simple "sorry".

All that was planned was a cleanup party, seeing as we left the city in a huge mess. Aangs battle on the outskirts of the city were the main issue we were dreading with dealing with, but like we had planned earlier today, we scoured the city in search of wounded soldiers. The White Lotus assisted with most of it, considering they did a lot of the damage as well. Sokka sent out a search party for some men they'd apparently dropped in the water. I went with him while Aang searched for the soldiers, I just couldn't face something so gruesome so I figured the water situation would be better. They needed my bending anyway.

"We dropped them right over there, in the bay," Sokka says, pointing out the window of Zukos airship. Well, Azulas, but I guess it's Zukos now. I look out over the water. No men, no bodies. "Where are they!?" he exclaims, voice cracking and hands flying up and clutching the hair that was no longer there. I guess it must be weird not having it anymore.

"Sokka you can't expect them to float there all day and night, they probably swam ashore and made camp on that island," I pointed to it, a small island raised above the ground about fifty miles from the coast where Aang and Ozai had their battle. It was certainly close enough and if they were to swim ashore that's where they'd be. Good, I don't want to have missed them and have so many men unaccounted for. Along all of the edges of the island there were tall jagged rocks but it rose the island up about a hundred feet, and the front side of the island had a beach. I saw small black dots on the shoreline, probably the men.

"Look there they are! They must've camped out, it's the only explanation," Sokka exclaims, letting his hands drop to his hips as he gazed out the window. Suki shook her head at him and looked at me like _wow. _I just nodded. I'm over his outbursts, have been for years. The best thing to do is just let him believe he's the mastermind and nobody gets hurt.

"Go down slowly Zuko, we don't want to crush them," Suki says, standing behind Sokka and I to get a better look at the island.

"Well I wouldn't just drop the airship on them," Zuko says. We wait for a few minutes and eventually it's clear that the men have scattered up the side of the island, on the high side so that we could land on the beach. I wonder what they must be thinking, they had the front row seat to the battle the other day, and they know who won, so seeing one of their airships must be a shock. Well, what's not a shock these days?

Turns out those were the men who Sokka had dropped from the airship yesterday. After we rescued them we took them back to shore and gave them some food and blankets, seeing as most of them were wet and freezing, poor guys. Sokka apologized and explained what had happened, and though a few of the men were pissed, the majority didn't seem to care. They told us their living conditions were terrible because of Ozai, he made their lives hell. They even thanked us.

So our rescue mission was a success, and Sokka had taken quite a keen interest in the island they'd been living on. He rambled on and on about how he was going to talk to Aang about it, about how we could use it for something, anything. But while I could listen to his queries I was suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion. This war had really gotten to me, and not until today. I needed to rest.

"Sokka, take me back to the house," I demand, pointing in the general direction of Ba Sing Se.

"Because it's not super far away," he shrugs, turning the airship around. "We have men to tend to," he reminds me, gesturing to the door where the men were waiting on the other side. "I'll take you home once we take them home."

"To the fire nation?" I question. Sokka looks to Zuko for assurance, but before either of them can give me a response I just bury my face in my hands. "Just drop me off with Aang," I murmur. Sokka says okay quietly and takes us lower, maneuvering through the odd rock formations, deeper into the land area until we caught sight of Appa. He signaled to Aang and picked up me on the rocks shortly after.

We watched Sokka leave with Zuko and Suki, taking the soldiers back to their home.

"I thought you weren't ready to stomach the idea of wounded people," Aang says, stroking my face.

"I'm just so tired, I think I need to go back to Ba Sing Se," I say. He sighs and helps me up on top of Appa.

"We're just about done here anyway," he says. "Barely any casualties, but it's the city I'm really worried about." I can see the worry in his eyes. But I can also see he's just as tired as I am. He needs more sleep.

The next few days blurred together into weeks, and soon the city had returned to normal. Well, as normal as it had ever been. It was the time in which we all had dreaded; figuring out where we were going to go, and live…


	5. I wanna kiss you

I guess you couldn't really call Tophs new little gang an 'academy', but she insists it will be something. Then again, it's hard to argue with such a ferocious thirteen year old warrior. Ever since she's been in Ba Sing Se she's kept to herself, held back on the sarcastic smart ass comments that usually fuel her position here in our family. She's kept quiet. It's like she's planning, or plotting… Or at least that's what I thought until I was told about what she was doing with these kids.

"I get it," I grin, glancing in her direction before returning to my conversation with Aang. "I think it's great."  
"I do, this really needs to be recognized. I hope her parents are as proud as we are," Aang says, looking down for a moment before realizing she could probably here us. Well, we were in the same room…

"I hope so too," she says as she comes over, sitting at the table with us in our small apartment. We had never stayed in the same place so long, not since we lived on Ember Island.

It was a day where we woke up and had no idea what we were doing, playing everything by ear. We were all still in Ba Sing Se, and I think Sokka is really warming up to the idea of staying for a while. He's found that his leadership qualities make him restless when he's not helping out with the aftermath of the war, and I know that will follow him. He's going into the government with Aang, there's really nothing else I could see him wanting. He couldn't live quietly in the South Pole knowing that he could make a change in the earth kingdom. Visiting GranGran will have to be enough, for now. It makes me sad, but it's the way our lives took us, she knew this was our destiny.

"Metalbending is gunna be the future of the world, the new element," Aang grins. I had never met anyone as encouraging as him. Well, with the exception of Iroh. If I didn't know Aang as well as I did I wouldn't be able to determine between which one is kinder. They're both happy souls, troubled past only helping to shape who they're to become. It was only because I'd been there with Aang through those troubling times that I knew he could occasionally grow a temper. But of course, it was nothing compared to the average person. With the way Toph and I used to act towards each other Aang is a saint.

"I've been wondering when the right time to go home is…you know, just for a little bit to check in," Toph says, searching for a bit of guidance.

"Whenever you feel you're ready, just don't forget to tell your students that you're going away for a while," he tells her.

"They've only been with me for a week; we haven't even started bending yet. They'll handle," she retorts, and Aang chuckles. Sokka walks in and drops his bag on the couch, stretching and yawning.

"Yep, another long day in the big bad world," he says, rubbing his butt as he walks past us into the pantry.

"So when are you planning on leaving?" Aang resumes our conversation after greeting Sokka.

"Whenever you're willing to fly me out there…," she says quietly.

"Would you be ready today? There's time to get out there and back by sunset," he says. "I calculated the distance; it's really not that far from here. But we'd have to leave quickly." Aang stands and glances out the window at the sun. It was still early in the morning, a few hours after dawn. So I guess Sokka hadn't really gotten back from a long day, just a really long night. I felt bad for ditching him and Suki and Zuko with the soldiers, but I couldn't handle another night away from safety, and Aang…

"I'll pack. I'll send you a hawk when I'm ready to come back." And with that she was off to her room, closing the door roughly behind her. Aang turned to me and started to speak before Sokka dropped down rudely between us, crunching on an apple.

"Where is Toph going?" he says, gnawing on the fruit. Aang stands up and heads into the pantry, I'm guessing for an apple considering the way he looked at Sokkas. It was like a light bulb lit up above his head, the idea turning a light on upstairs. I scooted away from my obnoxious brother.

"She's going home," he calls over his shoulder.

"What?!" he freaks, turning around to look at Aang as he came back into the room, trying to regain his cool before anyone realized he cared about Toph more than he led on. "Why would you let her do that? She's essential to the metalbending reform you're trying to do here! Don't we need to spread this around?" he rants.

"Sokka, it's going to take years for Toph to teach these kids metalbending, much less turn it into an actual academy. She'll be back, and it'll happen, but she's going to visit her parents for a few days, or weeks, first. She hasn't seen them in a year," he says, in his calm voice, the voice of reason and logic. I called it his Aang voice, because it wasn't so much _avatar_ as it was just him. He has Sokka with that, and all we hear is the crunching of those damn apples. Toph emerges from her room, carrying the bag that Sokka bought in the Earth Kingdom, right before we met her at Earth Rumble Six. I know Sokka noticed, but he didn't object. He just stood and gestured for her to follow him out the front of the house.

"I wanna talk to you," he says. She follows, setting her things at Aangs feet where he stood. I still found it impressive she knew where we were much less who we were.

"Sokka we gotta go soon, be nice and hurry up," Aang reminds, sighing and returning next to me, throwing his apple core out the open window.

"Hey stranger," I say quietly, taking his hand. He grins tiredly.

"Hey Katara," he leans in and presses his lips to my forehead; they're cool, and comforting. "I know this is a lot, and if you wanna go with Sokka and see your family for a few days," he stops, "or weeks," he adds, "I'd understand. I can't make you stay here. You played your part in ending this war. I don't have a right to ask for more if you want to go home." I can sense the sacrifice in his decision to say this, and I know he would want nothing more than for us to stay here with him.

I cup his cheek in my hand and he looks up at me, into my eyes. "I love you, Aang, and I'm going to be wherever you are from now on." With that all he can do is grin. He leans his head into my touch and closes his eyes, sighing with content and obvious relief.

"Oh, did I interrupt a moment?" Sokka mutters awkwardly. Aang shakes his head, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Is Toph ready?" he asks. Sokka nods.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a nap before you go?" I take his hand and stand with him.

"No if I want to get there I'll have to leave now." He shrugs and kisses my cheek. It may be just a peck, but it left tingles when he pulled away.

"And he has to drop me off too," Sokka says matter-of-factly. Aang raises his eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" I question.

"I wanna stay with Dad tonight; he sent me a letter staying he's nearby, in the inner ring. It's not more than a mile away, and we haven't seen him since the ceremony…"

Aang yawns and rubs his eyes a bit more. "Alright get your things, be on Appa in five minutes. Katara do you want to stay with your father too?" he turns to me. I shake my head. "Okay," then he thinks for a moment. "What will you do all day? I won't be back until later…I can take you somewhere if you'd like," he offers. I smile at him. I love him; I love him so much and his generosity. He's willing to do so much for anybody.

"I'm going wherever you go remember?" I laugh softly. "I've seen you fly Appa when you're exhausted, and I know you had no sleep last night. I'll come with and take over at some point so you can sleep a little bit," I tell him, going into my room to grab my parka before he can object. By the time I've come back out he's gone, probably waiting outside.

lllll

We're almost back home now. The sky is a deep purple, and Aang is asleep beside me, leaning affectionately into my shoulder. I know where we are by now, and even if I didn't Appa does. It's like auto-pilot on an airship.

So I drop the reins and turn to him, gripping him by the shoulders and pulling him as softly as I could onto the saddle. We may be almost home but we're still an hour away, and falling asleep sitting up isn't gunna be too fun to recover from tomorrow morning. Once he's safe on the bed of clothes I made I crawl back onto to Appas head and wait for a few minutes. Once I know Appa is aware of where we are I lean down and scratch his head, speaking to him.

"Can you get us home Appa?" I coo, knowing he can understand. He roars, not loud enough to wake Aang though. "Good boy!"

I crawl back up onto the saddle and sit next to Aang, pulling him into my arms and he subconsciously smiles, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face in my neck. I grin and hold him like that until we land safely in front of our apartment.

lllll

Aang doesn't wake as I carry him to my room. The room we shared once but I still consider ours. Well, without everyone else knowing. That was when it occurred to me that we were alone here. The thought sent chills through me, made me blush, the same way I did as I set Aang down on the bed. He turned on his side and stirred. I turned to the drawers and began searching for night clothes when he spoke.

"We got home safe?" he murmurs, sitting up and yawning. I smile and nod.

"Mission complete," I say reassuringly. He smiles at me and stands up, coming over to where I was and wrapping his arms around me, resting his head on my shoulder. I still found it hard to believe he was tall enough to do that, he really has grown…

"I wanna kiss you," he whispers. I feel the heat rise to my cheeks, and the butterflies explode around in my stomach like fireworks at the tone of his voice. He has never spoken like this before. It was an Aang I wasn't used to. "I want to be with you, to hold you, to touch you," he continues, kissing my neck sensually from where he was. "You make me think about things I shouldn't be thinking about," he whispers so quietly I question him even saying it. But he did. And I can sense the hesitancy. He was so innocent…

I turn and face him wrapping my arms around his neck. "You knew this would happen wouldn't you?" I ask, kissing his lips softly, barely touching him before pulling away. I wasn't quite sure I knew what was right in Air Nomad custom. I wasn't sure of anything, his traditions… It hadn't really occurred to me how clueless I was.

"The monks warned me I would have…thoughts, but before I could learn too much about it," he stopped. I just stroked his face to give him a bit of strength. He found some, and laughed a bit. "I just wasn't prepared for this," he mutters sarcastically, glancing down. I gasp, and can't help but laugh out loud at the obvious arousal in his pants. I had never seen anything so blatantly plain; he wasn't even bothering to cover it up.

He laughs at me, and we both start laughing together. Soon he steps away a few feet, wide grin still on his face. "I still wanna kiss you," he points a finger at me. "I need to meditate, I haven't yet today, but I'll be quick. When I'm done I'll come back in," he takes a deep breath, "and when I do I want," he stops again, looking down awkwardly. He wants to make out; he just doesn't know how to say it. I can only imagine how much this means, because it means a lot for me too.

"You want to kiss me, just longer, and more passionate, and probably on the bed," I gesture to the bed behind me. His pale cheeks turn pink and he has that boyish cute look I love. He nods eagerly, pecking me on the cheek before leaving with a small wave.

I sigh and turn back to the drawers. So many thoughts were clouding my mind. I can't believe I was about to be intimate with my best friend, the boy who I've known as a child but am starting to know as a young man. I have never seen him aroused before! It was so new! It hadn't really occurred to me yet that Aang had a penis; sexual things had never come into my mind. But they had come into his…

Of course I knew he had a penis, but I never imagined him using it. He was so pure in my mind. I wasn't afraid to change that, in fact it was intriguing. I find all of this exciting. Normally this would be scandalous- heck, it is!- but it's love. Its' safe, it's okay, and it's never been better.

lllll

I was dressed in my bindings. Since it was summer, the room was hot. It made my skin moist. I would've slept in just my bindings anyway, but given the situation I considered wearing one of Sokkas shirts to keep covered up. I wasn't sure what Aang was comfortable with. I pondered the thought too long because soon he was standing in the doorway, taking in the sight of me and my lack of clothing. Of course, he wasn't wearing much more than just his pants, no shoes or shirt.

"You ready?" he asks, but I know the question is more for himself. I sit up and smile at him, giving him a nod. I know this gives him some encouragement because he climbs up on the bed, hovering above me. I was thankful he was bold enough to head straight into this position, instead of having to waste time moving into it. I smile wider and hold his face in my hands, letting one of my hands slowly travel down his neck, his shoulders, and down his back. I trace the muscular planes of his body, marveling in his beauty. He trembles beneath my touch and leans down to kiss me, letting his eyes droop shut.

I lie back against the pillows and spread my legs, my hands on the small of Aangs back. I pull him, and he presses his body against mine with a small gasp, fitting perfectly between my legs. We grin awkwardly at each other and I let my toes graze the back of his leg, causing him to shiver further. He kisses me again, this time hurriedly, more urgency. I can't help but respond in the same manner. I wanted him closer.

His lips were so soft, and kissing them made my body melt into thick liquid goo. I moan softly, so very softly, and pull him closer, tighter. Suddenly a wave of need sweeps over the both of us and we're kissing fiercely, passionately. We had never kissed this way before, and it was so new. There was so much exploring to do, and we acted as if there was so little time. But we had all the time in the world. Of course I wasn't about to remind him of that, because I needed all he could give me in this moment.

"Aang," I whispered huskily, pulling back, noses brushing together. The air stung my lips and I had to pull him in again, the fear of death falling upon us if we parted for too long.

"Yes my love?" he responds around my lips, his fingers softly stroking my arm, his other hand curling around my waist and holding me secure. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to say to him, so I said nothing. I just wanted to love him.

I let my hands travel his body, soaking in all of the precious moments and caresses we shared. He moans into my lips and releases me, the sound bringing weird feelings to weird spots in my body. Then his wet warm lips created a trail of kisses down my neck, making me shiver and crave him further. I wasn't quite sure how long we'd been kissing when I took notice of how moist we both were, and how labored our breathing had come to be. I remembered what it was I was going to tell him.

"This is normal you know," I murmur, trying to regain my voice and nearly failing.

"What is, kissing this way?" Aang wonders, bringing his lips to mine again. He moves his body against mine, and he has been, but I hadn't really realized that there was an actual movement going on. I can't help but whimper, feeling his shoulders when he moves like that, and his crotch touching mine, it's too sexy for me to handle. His muscles were making me too aroused, and _his _arousal was evident again, and it was the oddest feeling pressing against my…

"Yes," I breathe heavily, "and your arousal, it's normal. I don't know how it is in nomad traditions," he nips at my neck and I gasp slightly, "but for people today it's a normal thing to think the way you must," I tell him, holding his face so he'll look me in the eye.

"That's a relief," he whispers with a smile. He kisses me again, and I love it, but I can't help but let curiosity get the best of me.

"Can I ask you something?" I say to him. He gives up on my lips and moves back to my neck.

"Anything," and I can feel his tongue poking out, hesitantly tasting the skin hidden beneath my ear. I yelped, nails digging into his back and legs wrapping around his waist tightly, pulling him closer. God damn it Aang, you found it. He pulled back wide eyed, laughing. "I found your spot," he declares confidently.

"And I found yours," I retort, my hand sliding around between us and rubbing against his hardened manhood through his pants.

"Gah!" he hisses, but his reaction is anything but afraid. Surprised, yes, but I as much as he wants to play if off like it scares him I can feel the way he presses into my palm. But this is all moving too fast, so I pull my hand away and return it to his back, trying to act cool, like I hadn't just touched a penis for the first time. Even if it was just through his pants…

He has his head in my neck, panting, trying to gain control over himself after what I just did.

"So, I was gunna ask you something," I murmur. He nods, returning to kissing my neck. I let out a small moan, tightening my arms around him affectionately and lovingly, he was so warm. "Well, I guess there are a lot of things I want to ask you…" I trail off. "It can wait until morning." He pulls back and looks at me. I search his eyes as he searches mine, but his emotion is undeterminable. "What could you possibly be thinking?" I finally ask.

"I love you. And I'm pretty sure I'm gunna marry you."


End file.
